Les Liaisons Dangereuses is not written about immoral people so much as amoral ones: people whose actions are not driven by (or away from) any reliable standard, and people who act without regard for the consequences their behavior has on others. Although it is possible to interpret it as a criticism of the aristocratic elite of France before the French Revolution, the novel was published in 1782 while there was no hint of rebellion in France. The French treasury was not empty until 1788, the Bastille was not stormed until 1789, and outright war did not begin until 1792, a full decade after the book's publication. Although the antagonists are aristocrats, they are not depicted as preying on the other classes so much as on one another.
The plot revolves around the manipulative games played by a pair of conniving hedonists, the Marquise (sometimes translated as "Marchioness") de Merteuil and the Vicomte (Viscount) de Valmont. These conniving hedonists use sex as a weapon and lack any consideration for other human beings. De Merteuil's main goal is to corrupt the young fiancée of a man who has angered her, by turning the fifteen-year-old Cécile Volanges into a manipulative, conniving person like herself. Valmont's goal is to challenge himself by seducing the Présidente de Tourvel, a chaste and conservative woman. She is known for her devotion to her husband, her strong religious and moral code, and her resulting lack of interest in adultery. The innocent and naïve women, along with the young Chevalier Danceny who is falling in love with young Cécile, are unaware that they are being systematically manipulated. These three are used and discarded to advance the whims of de Merteuil and Valmont.
The names of some of the characters suggest their natures and foreshadow some of their decisions and destinies. "Volanges", the surname of young Cécile and her mother, is composed of the French words for "flight" and "angels", suggesting the flight of angelic protection and guidance. Whether the angelic protection and guidance are arriving or flying away is left to the reader to deduce. "Valmont", the surname of the predatory libertine who seduces both Cécile and Mme. de Tourvel, is composed of the French words for "valley" and "mountain", suggesting a rather low character who happens to be a member of the hereditary aristocracy. "Tourvel", the surname of Valmont's married target, contains the French word for "tower", suggesting inaccessibility and inviolability. "Rosemonde", the surname of Valmont's elderly aunt in whose home the Volanges women are staying, contains the French words for "rose" (or "pink") and "world", suggesting that she has an idealistic, rosy view of the world. The modern phrase "seeing the world through rose-colored glasses" has similar connotations. Likewise, the idealistic Chevalier de Danceny contains the French word for "dance". The vile Marquise de Merteuil has a surname that contains the French word for "sea", which suggests deception, hidden depths, and changeability. The syllable "mere" has no meaning in French, however, it is similar to a vulgar euphemism in which the letter "t" is replaced with the letter "d".
The novel is written in an epistolary structure. Each letter contains information one character wishes to impart to another. Not all communication between the characters is included: the author skips over the various aspects of the characters' lives that are not related to the plot. Accordingly, descriptions of scenery, other characters, and locations are quite limited. But the character development is striking. Valmont and de Merteuil present one version of themselves to the people they are trying to seduce, and another version to each other. Two characters can describe the same incident in radically different ways. This emphasizes the subjectivity of their respective experiences, but it also creates an opportunity for misrepresentation.
Each of the characters in the novel acts by his or her ideology. Danceny challenges Valmont to a duel (a highly illegal activity) and critically wounds him because of his offenses against Cécile. Before he dies, Valmont gives Danceny incriminating letters that show Cécile's participation in the manipulative affair. Shocked and furious, Danceny publishes the letters, destroying Cécile's reputation and causing her betrothed future husband to reject her. He of course does not publish the letters related to his own equally illicit affair with the Marquise de Merteuil-- that would have brought scandal on himself. Satisfied that he has done the "right" thing, and brokenhearted, Danceny retires from the world to become an ascetic Knight of Malta. Cécile, rejected by her betrothed husband due to the scandal, retreats to a convent while Mme. de Tourvel contracts a fever and dies from complications related to extreme emotional upset. The Marquise retreats into the countryside and contracts a disfiguring disease.
The novel is extremely plot-centric, which means that descriptions, allegories, symbolism, and other literary devices are limited. They do exist, however. The image of a rose, and particularly a budding rose, suggests innocence. Keys are related to trust partly because the theft of a key is instrumental in Cécile's portion of the story.
In an epigraph to the book, Laclos includes the phrase: "J'ai vu les mœurs de mon temps et j'ai publié ces lettres." In English, the phrase means "I have seen the morals of my times, and I have published these letters." With this epigraph, which is a quotation from a 1761 work by Rousseau called La Nouvelle Héloïse (which in itself is a reference to the female protagonist of the medieval classic Héloïse et Abeilard), Laclos evokes not just the concept of morality and religious duty but also the eternal theme of forbidden love. He also subtly aligns himself with the character of Danceny.
